Life moves pretty fast. My wife and I have been together for seven years; we've been married for almost five, and we now have two kids, one three and a newborn. We celebrated my wife Mary Ellen's birthday yesterday, and we ordered the above from our favorite restaurant Chi Tung, where we had our first date and where I proposed to her. We also ordered this same order two years ago but from Mo's Chinese Kitchen out of Orland Park at the time.
Each day, each minute, each second is precious. Sometimes we forget about certain days unless they're documented. Like the one below, this one was from April 8, 2019, which was the last time I recall taking a picture of my old house. That was the kitchen table in Chicago Ridge we sat at for years. We ended up selling it, and we just hope it went to a good home.
Facebook often has these "On This Day" posts, and I thought it would make an exciting blog piece. I scanned through my photos and noticed I took several pictures on or around April 8. They show these little snapshots of where I was in my life. But they don't only showcase my life, but perhaps they are relatable to all of our lives - seeing your parents leave their home, marrying, having kids, etc. It's like that old quote from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." The next photo is from April 8, 2018, and to be honest, I have no idea what this photo means. Other images in April were more interesting, as in the day I bought my car later in the month and when we prepared Easter breakfast at my church earlier in the month, but sometimes I think vague photos make for interesting shots.
Yes, I have no idea what this means. Did I take it for the sake of what was on the tag? I have no idea. We forget several days and times in our lives, and I suppose this moment was one of them.
This one was from April 14, 2017. Mary Ellen and I planted tulips alongside our pool. I thought this was a fitting picture because I gave her tulips as part of her birthday gift with the reasoning, "Do you remember when we planted those tulips?"
In 2016, I took her to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios for her birthday. It was a far different birthday than celebrating with two kids at home eating Chinese food, but she loved both. In fact, I think she liked this one more because she had her two wonderful sons to celebrate it with. However, that trip was pretty awesome too.
And finally, my Photos App would only allow me to reach back to 2015, which is fine considering that it was this trip when I knew that Mary Ellen would become my future wife. Funny enough, I came across this tulip field in North Carolina, and just two years later, we would be planting them together at our home. Two years after that, we would be welcoming our first son, and three years after that, our second. Like I said, life moves pretty fast. Enjoy each moment because, in an instant, it's gone. But at the same time, there are many more coming on the way.
